Although much more conservative and restrained than, say, “Psywar,” this presentation, which builds upon the research of David Robb, raises some important questions about the relationship between Hollywood and the Pentagon. [END] Permalink: Operation Hollywood
There’s not much to be said about Metanoia’s “Psywar” except that it bears watching. A history of the public relations industry, this outstanding documentary explores the highly deleterious impact of organized and well-funded propaganda efforts on a would-be democratic society. [END] Permalink: Psywar
Above, ex-Scientologists-turned-whistleblowers Larry Brennan and Nancy Many and ex-Moonie-turned-cult expert Steve Hassan have a post-rally conversation about why people, intelligent people no less, join cults, among other topics. Below, Scoobie Davis presents some information on the dangers of the Moonies from a political perspective.
This is part two of six of “Evidence of Revision,” an eight-hour video collection which covers many a taboo subject in American history including the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, the causes of the Vietnam war, the social uprisings of the 1960s and ’70s, the Jonestown massacre, government mind control programs such as MKULTRA, and vote rigging and political corruption at the highest levels. This installment, which opens with another great “conspiracy” montage, picks up where part one left off, with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and a review of Kennedy’s public stances, continues into the escalation of the Vietnam conflict into a full-blown and terrible war under the notoriously corrupt Presidential administration of Lyndon Johnson, and concludes with a review of the House Select Committee on Assassinations and related topics, including FBI operative Lee Oswald’s 201 File. [END] Permalink: Evidence of Revision 2: Vietnam and LBJ
Above are two short media-critical films from different filmmakers. At top, “Globalization and the Media” from the Media Education Foundation highlights the rise of independent and primarily internet-based journalism in recent years. (Many more excellent videos touching on various topics related to the media and society are available at the link.) At bottom, part three of “Who Really Owns the Mainstream Media” (parts one and two are unavailable) discusses the convergence of upper-class interests in the governance of American media. [END] Permalink: Globalization and the Media & Who Really Owns the Mainstream Media
Robert Kane Pappas’ “Orwell Rolls in His Grave” is probably the premier video overview of what is wrong with the media today and how American democracy has suffered as a result of the faults of this essential part of a self-governing society. Featuring Robert McChesney, Mark Crispin Miller, Bernie Sanders and others, “Orwell” covers a wide range of topics from the depoliticizing of the American public at the hands of the infotainment-oriented “news” agencies to the widespread media consolidation following the sweeping deregulations of the Reagan era. [END] Permalink: Orwell Rolls in His Grave
The Vietnam war was about communism and the “domino theory,” “they” say. Then again, some of the same “them” also say that today’s so-called “war on terror” is about terrorism and “fightin’ ‘em over there so we don’t have to fight ‘em over here.” This gem from the Criterion Collection explores other ideas about the United States’ financial and military involvement in the war to control the natural resources and people (“human resources”) of southeast Asia, and relates various accounts of individuals connected with it in some way. [END] Permalink: Hearts and Minds
This incredibly frank Vietnam war documentary takes a bold look at the outrageously cynical political maneuvering behind the United States’ military involvement in Southeast Asia, first as a financial and political backer of imperial France, then as an installer of various puppet regimes, and finally through the stupefying and horrific violence of the many years of combat which followed. No matter how much or how little you may know about the Vietnam war, “Vietnam: American Holocaust” is simply not to be missed. [END] Permalink: Vietnam: American Holocaust
“Enemy Image” is a history of the American media’s presentation of U. S. wars and the U. S. government and military’s fight to control that presentation, beginning with Vietnam and moving on through the 2003 war in Iraq. While early newsreels, with their patriotic narrative overdubs, presented a polished and sterile image of heroic troops bravely fighting like a well-oiled machine, the relatively unregulated television journalism of the later 1960s showed the common soldier up-close and personal, without the touch-ups of Hollywood. Although the film has a curious lack of mention of the late ’90s war in eastern Europe, it does a good job of comparing the Vietnam era to the much more heavily controlled time from the 1980s to today. “Everybody just wants to go home and go to school. [...] The whole thing stinks.” – U. S. soldier in Vietnam [END] Permalink: Enemy Image
This German documentary gives an intimate view into the lives of U. S. soldiers in Iraq. Firefights, sniper attacks, all manners of violence are presented here in true documentary fashion. The first Gulf War began in 1991, a decade of sanctions which killed more people than the bombing of Hiroshima followed, and now a bigger war continues to drag on and on, year after year. What will be the end of the United States’ war in Iraq? [END] Permalink: Iraq: The Continuous War
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